Even though the Academy Awards were announced mere hours ago, we've had nearly a year to soak in the gorgeous visual nectar produced by this year's crop of Oscar contenders. And, as we do every year, we've put a list together to take a look at which cameras and lenses were used to capture these amazing films.
As always, ARRI shows up in a big way with the various flavors of Alexa in films like Joker, 1917, and Ford v Ferrari. However, something really interesting happened this year: half...half...of all the films on our list, which includes all Best Picture, Best Directing, and Best Cinematography nominees, were shot on film. This includes titles you probably expected, like Scorsese's The Irishman and Tarantino's Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, but it also includes Robert Eggers The Lighthouse, Greta Gerwig's Little Women, and Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story.
Learn which cameras and lenses were used in the Oscar-nominated films by checking out our handy infographic.
The Irishman
Nominated for Best Picture, Best Directing (Martin Scorsese), and Best Cinematography (Rodrigo Prieto)
Cameras: ARRI Alexa Mini, Arricam LT, Arricam ST, RED Helium
Lenses: Zeiss Ultra Primes, Zeiss Compact Zooms, Angenieux Optimo, Cook Panchro/i Classic
Joker
Nominated for Best Picture, Best Directing (Todd Phillips), and Best Cinematography (Lawrence Sher)
Cameras: ARRI Alexa 65, Alexa LF, Alexa Mini
Lenses: Hasselblad Prime DNA lenses
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
Nominated for Best Picture, Best Directing (Quentin Tarantino), and Best Cinematography (Robert Richardson)
Cameras: Aaton A-Minima, Arriflex 435, Bolex camera, Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2
Lenses: Panavision Primo, C-, E-, T-Series and Ultra Speed Golden lenses, Normal Speed MKII, Ultra Speed MKII, Cooke Varotal, and Angenieux lenses
1917
Nominated for Best Picture, Best Directing (Sam Mendes), and Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins)
Cameras: ARRI Alexa Mini LF
Lenses: ARRI Signature Prime lenses
The Lighthouse
Nominated for Best Cinematography (Jarin Blaschke)
Cameras: Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2
Lenses: Bausch & Lomb Baltar and Petzval lenses
Parasite
Nominated for Best Picture and Best Directing (Bong Joon Ho)
Cameras: ARRI Alexa 65
Lenses: Hasselblad Prime DNA lenses
Ford v Ferrari
Nominated for Best Picture
Cameras: ARRI Alexa LF
Lenses: Panavision C-, H-, and T-Series lenses
Jojo Rabbit
Nominated for Best Picture
Cameras: ARRI Alexa Mini, Alexa SXT
Lenses: Hawk V-Lite 1.3x Anamorphic, Leica Summicron-C, Summilux-C lenses, and Vantage One T1 lenses
Little Women
Nominated for Best Picture
Cameras: Arricam LT and ST
Lenses: Cooke S4 and Angenieux Optimo lenses
Marriage Story
Nominated for Best Picture
Cameras: Arricam LT and ST, Arriflex 435
Lenses: Panavision Primo lenses
It appears that Hollywood filmmakers really stuck to tradition this year. They shot on tried and true, battle-tested cameras that have been used on big-budget (and not so big budget) projects over the years, and didn't venture out much. In other words, we didn't see anything super cool like GoPros or iPhones this go-around.
And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with using an ARRI Alexa to shoot your film...in fact, I can think of a whole lot of right...but that camera isn't designed to be conducive to new filmmakers who have no money and no experience.
If you want to see what indie filmmakers are using on their low-budget projects, stay tuned for our Sundance Camera Roundup.
